


Through the Lens

by tailashake



Category: Luigi's Mansion (Video Games), Luigi's Mansion 3
Genre: M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 22:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21417802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tailashake/pseuds/tailashake
Summary: Morty wasn't afraid of showing his feelings, but letting Luigi know about them was a completely different matter
Relationships: Morty (Luigi's Mansion)/Luigi
Comments: 27
Kudos: 178





	Through the Lens

**Author's Note:**

> I like to think of the ghosts in Luigi's Mansion 3 having the same kind of hearts as the ones in the first game

There was this certain sense of security that was provided by the small piece of glass separating him and Luigi.

By no means was Morty afraid of Luigi, oh,_ no_, that wasn’t the case at all. It was the feelings that his _shining star_ roused in him that felt oh so intimidating, leaving him vulnerable in the clutches of admiration.

_Adoration_.

The lovestruck director had no idea when things had taken that dramatic turn, when he had started to feel warm to an almost overwhelming degree whenever his muse was present, when his body had began to betray him; oh, _must you be so treacherous, my heart_?

His heart – _why must you do this to me_ – would pop out at inconvenient times, especially whenever his wandering thoughts drifted towards Luigi, prompting him to _tuck and push and shove_ that beating mass of ectoplasm back where it came from with the tip of his finger. It would be dangerous to have someone – especially _him_ – to witness the physical proof of his-- his crush, his _love_. Morty couldn’t help those thoughts. As a ghost with an unbridled imagination, any attempts at tamping down his flood of ideas and musings and vivid mental images would only cause them to build up and come crashing down on him harder than before.

Morty counted himself lucky that nobody had witnessed him nudging the bothersome thing back into his chest as he sat behind the camera.

One day he realized that viewing his _star_ through the lens made everything all the more bearable, as if it was diluting the cocktail of feelings brewing inside him to something less heady, something that was easier for him to tolerate and control. When inspected through the lens, Luigi would become… well, how could he put this into words?

Luigi would become a beautiful work of fiction, a living piece of film history, and at those moments Morty would see him as the characters the timid man transformed into, leaving behind his real self. It wasn’t Luigi that he was looking at; it was Con Crete, a simple cement factory worker planning a big heist. Sometimes it was Felix Fearless, the ghost hunter protagonist of Morty’s series of experimental horror flicks. But the illusion would break whenever they were working on a sports film as bits of Luigi peeked through the character, his enthusiasm and talent for sports shining bright; what was supposed to be a gruff, no nonsense up-and-coming baseball player would break into a beaming smile in the middle of a ‘match’ out of pure enjoyment of the sport.

Those times had a tendency to make Morty’s chest tighten. Quite a few takes would be spent on getting it right until Luigi would able to keep his grin back, bringing with it the return of the safe illusion that would soothe Morty.

Truth to be told, it wasn’t anything new that Morty would develop feelings like this for the stars in the making he found and nurtured, but never before had his adoration lasted this long nor had it been this strong. Somewhere, deep inside, he had a hunch that what he felt for his timid star would be there to stay.

The critics had praised the choice of casting Luigi – _a living being among a cast of ghosts_ – in his debut film as a bold and brilliant move. _Bold_? Oh, he wouldn’t use that word to describe it. He’d say it was _well-deserved_, on both Luigi and the audience’s part. The audience deserved to see and experience all that Luigi brought onto the silver screen: that emotion! Those nice features! A build that fit a variety of genres! That set of skills that was quite surprising for someone as young as Luigi was! It would’ve been a crime if his shining star had never got chance to appear on the big screen. Oh, it actually _already_ felt like a _crime_ that it had taken this long for him to appear before the cameras!

At the end of the day, when the cameras were off, the real Luigi would emerge again. There he was, under all that talent. So timid! Humble! The displays of that kind heart of his had a tendency to make Morty’s cheeks glow warm and pink, urging him to bury his face in the newest script before Luigi had a chance to notice what he was doing to the director.

Morty was a ghost of passion; his boundless energy was infectious, motivating his crew to do their best to fulfill his visions of works of art. He was never shy with giving out praise; he was very generous with them, for he knew his hard-working crew deserved the compliments. And… ah, his _emotions_! Sometimes it felt exasperating to be _oh so open_ when it came to showing how he felt, but he couldn’t help it. What with his unchecked imagination and enthusiasm, it only made sense for his emotions to be of the same caliber. Yet he was… afraid, terrified, _scared_ of letting Luigi know about the depths of his feelings for him.

He would be fine – _heartbroken but quite alright_ – if Luigi was to reject him upon a confession. But what he was really afraid of was that Luigi would claim the feeling to be mutual even thought it wasn’t, not out of an intention to toy with him, no, no, _not at all_. But because he was so nice and polite – _bless that kind heart of his_ – that he would probably be afraid of hurting Morty’s feelings. That’s just how his beloved star was.

And so he’d continue to keep it all under the wraps. Over time the boiling of a burning new love had been brought down to the more mature simmer of steady love. Still there, still as strong, but his extreme reactions had calmed down to a much more manageable degree. _I can do it! I can keep my emotions in check when it comes to my star_! That’s what he told himself, and yet, his troublesome heart would still pop out whenever Luigi leaned into his touch as Morty guided him around a new set with a gentle hand on the plumber’s shoulder. Ah, the way Luigi tended to look at him every time Morty began his excited rambling about a movie they’d just watched! And his gaze... it _looked_ the same way Morty_ felt_ about him.

It was moments like those that fed his hope, that maybe, just maybe there was a chance for their friendship to grow into something more.

Maybe he’d find the courage to let his heart stay in view when it would jump out following a lingering stare or an accidental brush of fingers, to show Luigi what an effect he had on him, but not today.

One day. _Eventually_.


End file.
